Yvonne aims for redemption in Korea

After a forgettable stint in Germany in 2009, Micronesia’s fastest woman Yvonne Bennett is out to redeem herself in the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea next month.

Bennett will be racing in the 200m event in this year’s World Championships, which will run from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4 at the Daegu Stadium. It will be Bennett’s third time to represent the CNMI to the biennial event, but only her second race in the prestigious competition.

In 2007, she and Tyrone Omar joined the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. The two years later, Bennett was selected anew to wear the colors of the Commonwealth, but unfortunately, she wasn’t able to run in the 100m qualifying heat due to sickness.

“I would say this is like my second chance and I am confident about having an impressive race, as I will be running in my favorite event—the 200m race,” Bennett said in an email to Saipan Tribune.

When she debuted in the World Championships in Japan via the 100m qualifying heat, the 21-year-old sprinter clocked in 13.16 seconds to break the CNMI record (13.57 seconds), which she also set. Since 2007, Bennett shattered the CNMI mark in the 100m run several times and the latest was the 12.52 seconds she posted in last month’s 2011 Oceania Regional Championships in Apia, Samoa.

“Going into the world champs this year, which is my third, is different from the first two because since then I have develop so much as an athlete and I definitely know what to expect when I go and compete. In the last two world champs I was entered in the 100m dash, so the competitive level has for sure risen. I am ready to go and give it everything I got and put all my training to the test just like I do in every race,” the Boise State University track and field team member said.

Bennett is thankful that BSU and her coach allowed her to represent the CNMI anew in the World Championships.

“I had to go to our compliance office at BSU and ask about competing in Korea and rules under NCAA allow student-athletes to participate in word championships so it was not problem at all. My coach is very supportive when he found out I was going to compete again, so he was all for it too,” Bennett said.

In Korea, Bennett will be aiming to break her own 200m record, which stands at 25.67 seconds.

“My goal in Korea is to drop my time and hopefully break another national record. To reach that goal I am continually training daily and working more on my running form and finishing strong in the last five meters of the 200m,” she said.

Joining Bennett in Korea is fellow sprinter Orrin Joseph Ogumoro Pharmin and Northern Marianas Athletics president Ray Tebuteb.